Leo Apostyppes or Apostoupes () was a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

military leader active in the 880s. He appears in 880, as military governor (''

strategos ''Strategos'' (), also known by its Linguistic Latinisation, Latinized form ''strategus'', is a Greek language, Greek term to mean 'military General officer, general'. In the Hellenistic world and in the Byzantine Empire, the term was also use ...

'') of the themes of Macedonia and

Thrace Thrace (, ; ; ; ) is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe roughly corresponding to the province of Thrace in the Roman Empire. Bounded by the Balkan Mountains to the north, the Aegean Sea to the south, and the Black Se ...

, leading the troops of these two provinces in campaign in southern Italy. The expedition was commanded by the '' protovestiarios'' Prokopios, which possibly indicates that Apostyppes was sent to Italy as reinforcement of the original expedition. The expedition, supported by a fleet under Nasar, was initially successful in its operations to recover the cities of

Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...

, but the dual command of the land forces proved fatal when Apostyppes and Prokopios quarreled: during a battle Prokopios found himself in danger, but Apostyppes refused to send troops to his aid, with the result that Prokopios' part of the army was defeated and he himself slain. Apostyppes was able to retreat with his own troops and with the surviving men of Prokopios' detachment, and even went on to capture Taranto. Nevertheless, when Emperor Basil I heard of the events, he dismissed Apostyppes and banished him to house arrest near Kotyaion. Shortly after, however, two of Apostyppes' subordinates, the '' protostrator'' Baianos and the '' koubikoularios'' Chamaretos, wrote to the Emperor accusing Apostyppes of having planned Prokopios' death since the beginning, and of plotting against Basil himself. The two sons of Apostyppes, Bardas and David, learned of these accusations and killed Baianos, whereupon they along with Leo tried to flee to the Abbasid Caliphate. They were intercepted by the '' manglabites'' Bartzapedon however, who killed Bardas and David when they tried to resist. Leo was brought back to

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

, where he had an eye and an arm cut off and was banished to Mesembria.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Apostyppes, Leo 9th-century Byzantine military personnel Byzantine generals Byzantine prisoners and detainees Byzantine rebels Prisoners and detainees of the Byzantine Empire Byzantine people of the Arab–Byzantine wars Byzantine Italy Governors of the Theme of Macedonia Governors of the Theme of Thrace